Fixing a Soul
by Ireul
Summary: Two people linked together by their damaged souls. They are drawn together by the fate of Hope in the end they find comfort with each other. YAOI ahead. Lemon in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Fixing a Soul

_This is all happening in the paradox ending where Noel is left at Hope's guard._

''Hope. Hope! HOPE!''

Noel was yelling, but the director couldn't hear him. He was trapped in his mind with fear spreading everywhere, leaving his body paralyzed. He then touched Hope on his shoulder.

''Uhh... yes?'' Hope said with a nervous and quiet voice.

''Are you ok? I've been calling you for a while now.'' Noel was worried about him.

''Umm... yes, I'm fine. What did you need?''

''Let's go to wherever you live.''

''I have to work, Noel.''

''I don't think you'd do much right now. You look... weird. Let's go. You have to rest.''

Hope sighed. He didn't like being treated like a child. It was really important that he worked on the paradoxes, so he focused on that, ignoring his health. Still, he didn't feel like arguing with Noel, so he decided to let him have his way and led the way home. Well, it wasn't much of a home. It was rather big for just one person, but there were no personal things. No photos or anything like that. It's like his life was all about work. Noel was getting more and more worried about Hope. Not so much about the assassination but about how he felt. They have only been acquaintances now, but he still felt sorry for him. He was alone.

They have taken their shoes off and Hope gave the hunter some slippers since he wore no socks.

''Are you hungry?'' asked Hope ''I can make you something to eat.''

''Just lie down on the couch and let me worry about the food.'' Noel said and turned left from the door to a small entrance that led to the kitchen.

It was almost a perfect square. A counter was all around it and the wall facing the living room was empty so you could see the living room. The couch was facing the TV, but it looked like it hasn't been used a lot. Behind the TV there was a huge window from where you could see all of Academia. ''A romantic place to share with your lover at night'' went trough Noel's mind along with an image of Hope. He shook his head and started wondering why he was thinking of that; which of course sowed down the cooking process.

Noel was not used to kitchens. He used to hunt for the food and then cook it on his fireplace.

Hope was already lying on the couch with his eyes closed. Maybe it wasn't that bad having someone to look after you after all. He could finally just relax, something he hasn't done in a long time.

Quite some time passed when Noel finally called Hope.

''Eeeehmm... Food's ready!''

Hope got up and went to the kitchen. The food didn't look that inviting for a normal person, but considering Hope ate very little and it was mostly take out food, it was a pleasant surprise. It was a lot of food for him, too much food actually. He sat down at the table in the middle of the room and started eating without saying a word. They were both very silent: Hope was not one to talk much and Noel was still thinking about his thought from earlier. Why would he think of that?

Hope ate less than half before he started to get up, but Noel didn't let him.

''It's not healthy to eat this little.'' he scolded him.

''I'm not hungry.'' Hope replied and continued in walking away.

At that moment Noel got up and pulled Hope to sit back on his chair.

''It won't help that I protect you if you're going to starve yourself.'' joked Noel, but you could see that he was being serious.

''How often do you eat?'' he asked.

''One meal, maybe two a day.'' Hope answered unwillingly. He knew how this will go and he was not in the mood for arguing.

''Well, that's about to change.'' Noel was smiling.

Hope didn't know how to react. He wasn't used to anyone caring about him this much for a long time now, so he just sat there looking at the ground. Maybe he'd get comfortable around Noel eventually.

''Hope, I pulled you back so you'd eat.''

Hope slightly blushed and grabbed his fork. He stayed in the kitchen for a while, answering any questions Noel might have about his life.

After they finished eating Noel went to take a shower and Hope laid down on the couch again. He fell asleep. When Noel got out of the shower he noticed Hope was sleeping and thought it was kind of cute. Again, he shook his head and awoken Hope.

''Good morning sunshine!'' teased Noel and watched Hope as he sat up to give Noel a place to seat.

They talked for a while about themselves. Hope was curious how life had been being alone. He was also curious how the world was. They didn't even realize it, but the time was running quite fast. The sun has set and they could see the moonlit Academia from the window.

Hope yawned and Noel did the same soon after. He took it as a clue to go to sleep.

''Well, it's getting late. We should go to bed.'' Noel suggested and looked at a very sleep-lacking Hope.

''It's not that late...'' protested Hope while secretly wishing the hunter would keep insisting. He needs a better sleeping schedule; sleeping hours a day isn't very satisfying.

''How much do you sleep a day usually?'' asked Noel knowing he'd have to fix this too, like his eating habits.

''Four maybe five hours'' mutter Hope quietly. Noel rolled his eyes.

''You know what I'd say now, so I'm not going to. You're going to bed weather it's by choice or I have drag you there and tie you up so you don't move.'' He blushed and the director looked at him wondering why he was blushing. A few very awkward seconds passed, only then Noel realized what he said and turned away.

''Ummm... Are you ok?''

''Yeah, I'm fine.'' Noel tried to hide his face. ''Can we go to sleep now?''

''Sure...'' answered Hope ''I'll show you to the guest bedroom.''

They walked to the end of the living room and opposite to the door they used to enter the house there was a small hallway with four doors. Hope's bedroom was the second door to the right, while the guest bedroom was second to the left. The other two doors were to the bathroom and to the cellar. Hope then remembered that he had to take a shower so he showed Noel to his room and went in the bathroom.

Noel was in the guest room at first, but then a little thought of mischief went trough his head. He got up and laid down in Hope's bed. When Hope finally returned from the shower in his light blue pyjamas, he laid down not noticing Noel until he hugged him from behind. Hope immediately panicked, and started violently shaking until Noel calmed him down.

''I'm sorry Hope.'' apologized Noel ''I didn't mean to scare you...''

''It's ok.'' answered Hope ''umm... what are you doing here?''

''Well,'' said Noel with a smile, ''I've been all alone. You know how much I missed human proximity.''

Hope smiled at that. ''Okay, just don't do anything weird.''

Noel was happy with that. They both turned to their own side and fell asleep. Noel was happy that he finally got the contact he needed and Hope actually got a decent meal and got closer to the advised amount of sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Hope was woken up by a horrible smell of smoke. The first thing he noticed was that Noel wasn't there. He rushed to the kitchen only to see a very confused Noel trying to figure out how he managed to set two pieces of pie on fire while making coffee. He wasn't really meant for kitchens.

"Noel, what are you doing?"

"Aaaah! Oh, it's just you. You scared me."

"Yeah, I apparently walk softly so I scare a lot of people like that. What's the smell?"

"I was making some coffee and I somehow managed to burn the pie."

Hope got confused by that.

"Pie? Noel, did you go out to buy some pie?"

"Nah, I just used the one in the fridge. Why?"

Hope was surprised. He had pie in the fridge. Who knew?

"Nevermind. Did you at least manage to make the coffee?"

"I think so...? I'm not sure how you like it, so it's just black for now."

"That's okay. I'll just put some milk and sugar in it."

Hope needed the coffee for the little time he slept, but he didn't particularly like coffee. Or any bitter things for that matter, so he put in sugar. A lot of it. Noel saw it and before he could even say anything Hope shushed him.

"Don't you dare say anything."

"That's rude, you know? I was just about to say the view is amazing here, but I guess I'm not going to." Hope just assumed he was talking about the window, but Noel was refering to Hope's behind. He had some time to think about it last night and after some thought he realized he was falling for Hope. The only "symptom" missing was him being unable to even look at him.

"I suppose. I never really look at it much. I don't really have the time for it."

"Well maybe if you didn't obsess with work as much you would!" He said it in a louder way, but it was meant as a joke.

Hope just sighed and sat down after finally managing to put in the sugar. The container was rather hard to open.

They drank the coffee in silence and then Hope stood up to get ready for work. Noel insisted that he shouldn't go these days, but after some convincing he realized that dozens of security guards could protect him better than Noel could. Hope changed from his pyjamas to his working uniform. Noel sighed at that. He was tired of seeing everyone wearing the exact same thing, but he didn't say anything not to argue with Hope.

They got to Hope's office in the 57th floor. Noel immediately rushed to the window to see how Academia looked from here. People were really small.

"Hey, Hope! If a penny would fall from here, do you think it would kill anyone?"

"Why are you even thinking of that?"

"Dunno, it just came to my mind. So, could it?"

"The penny is really small, so even with it's terminal velocity-"

"Terminal whaaaat?"

"When something is falling it can reach a limited amount of speed. The highest speed an object can aquire is called terminal velocity. And the penny is so light that it would just harm someone, but not actually kill them."

"Oh, okay..." Noel said it in a disappointed way.

"You seem disappointed. You aren't trying to kill anyone, are you?"

"No, not really. I just thought it would be cool. So what do you actually do here?"

"Right now, the team that takes care of updating the system is having some issues, so I decided to help them out. I'm rewriting the code because there have been some serious bugs."

"I don't know what any of those words mean, but okay."

The work hours were really boring for Noel. Hope didn't pay much attention to time and just focused to work and sometimes answered some questions Noel had. Questions simillar to the penny one. He also had to deal with Noel pulling him away from the computer because it was unhealthy. Then, however, Noel asked directions to the bathroom.

He came back almost an hour later, saying that he got lost on the way back. As soon as he came back, he saw Hope wiping a tear.

"Hope, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I'm fine."

"It's also very unhealthy to keep your issues inside. I'm here for you."

"It's just that... Nevermind. It's really stupid."

"Hope, tell me." He grabbed Hope and he wouldn't let go of him until he would tell him everything. Hope started talking about his past. He was bullied in school and his so called best friend just stopped caring about him overnight and hurt him even more. Then the whole l'Cie thing happened and ever since he's been focusing on fixing the world. He spoke about his lonliness and how he was afraid he was going to die alone.

When Noel heard that, he hugged him. And it wasn't just a regural hug. It was a "I'm going to hug you so hard your wounds will be forced to heal up" kind of hug. Hope hugged him back just as hard and started sobbing. But these were tears of happiness. Noel pulled back a little so he could look him in the eyes.

"Hope, look at me. We're 500 years from then. All of those people are dead and their bodies are rotting like they deserve to be. An you're definitely not going to die alone! Because I'm here for you. I always will be."

"Noel, what are you-"

This time he was cut off by Noel's lips again. However, he wasn't talking about science or anything like that. He kissed him. Hope closed his eyes and felt relief wash over him. They stayed like this for a while, until Hope gasped for air.

"Noel..."

"Noel shushed him. There was nothing to be said. Everything had been expressed with the kiss so there was no need to use words. They are incomplete and could not possibly describe what was going on.

The rest of the day was spent in silence. Noel pulled Hope off of work early and taken him to a fast food restaurant. Hope hated the idea, but he decided to go anyways.

They ordered some hamburgers and fries, and ate them at home. This was entirely new to both Noel and Hope, but it was absolutely delicious. They made some small talk, but neither were in the mood of talking very much. Hope was exhausted from work so he went to bed. Noel didn't want to let off that he was a huge cuddler just yet, so he pretended to be tired and went to bed with Hope. He would tell Hope eventually, just not het. And so he lied down with Hope and cuddled with him as Hope was soothed to sleep by the loving embrace of the hunter. After some time passed, Noe fell asleep as well.


End file.
